ANKARA: Syrian Musician Reflects Her Sorrow Through Melodies

SYRIAN MUSICIAN REFLECTS HER SORROW THROUGH MELODIES

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
July 19 2013

ISTANBUL- Hurriyet Daily News
by Vercihan Ziflioðlu

Musician Lena Chamamyan came to Turkey for a concert. Chamamyan lives
in Paris currently. She says she is planning return to Syria with peice

Famous Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan played a long-anticipated show
in Istanbul on July 17 as part of a somewhat melancholic “return”
to Turkey for the jazz musician, a half-Armenian, half-Syriac artist
whose family roots lie in Kahramanmaraþ.

“Coming to Turkey makes me sad,” she told the Hurriyet Daily News.

“This is my first visit to Turkey; I am really happy meeting
with Turkish people and also Turkish-Armenians. … Meeting with
Turkish-Armenians, it’s like meeting with old friends. … I am so
glad to be here but it’s so weird in the mean time. My feelings are
so mixed.”

Damascus-born Chamamyan, who played at Yýldýz Palace alongside pianist
Tuluð Týrpan, cellist Ozer Arkun and kanun player Goksel Baktagir,
has also had to abandon her homeland due to the civil war and is
currently living in Paris. Nonetheless, Chamayan vowed to one day
return to Syria. “If the fight were to finish in Syria, I’ll return
to my country. As an artist, I can’t live under a foreign sky.”

Chamamyan also talked about her family’s story in Kahramanmaraþ during
the massacres perpetrated by Ottoman forces against Armenians in 1915.

“My grandfather told me his brother went to the army that time. My
grandfather arrived in Syria.”

On politics

Commenting on her trip to Turkey, Chamamyan said there were many good
and bad people everywhere in the world. “But in general, I discovered
that the biggest problem is always the politicians. I never, ever deal
with politicians. Ignorance is so painful, and politicians do nothing.”

Chamamyan’s obligatory exile from Syria has given her a chance to
embark on a journey of discovery. “After the big pain, I have had
a chance to discover myself,” she said, adding that she created her
music with sadness and sorrow. “The pain turns to music.”

She also said she told herself in 2011 that to stand up for one’s
own people, “you have to give your people hope.”

Music of Chamamyan

The singer, who combines jazz and classical Armenian music, was born
in Damascus, where over the course of her elementary and secondary
education she participated in many school concerts, the first of
which she held at the age of 5. She started studying music at the
age of 9 and graduated from the economics management department at
Damascus University in 2002. She studied at the higher institution
of music in Damascus and graduated as a classical vocalist in 2007.

She has also worked with many vocalists and musicians of different
nationalities in many jazz festivals in Syria.

As part of her musical trajectory, Chamamyan has mixed classical with
oriental jazz and Armenian music to reflect the unique essence of her
style as a vocalist. She was charmed from the very beginning by the
idea of mixing simple oriental tunes with cords. Many friends from the
higher institution of music helped her understand and conceptualize
the project, the first of whom was Basel Rajoub, who has arranged
some of her music.

July/19/2013